Despite repeatedly calling allegations that his team colluded with Russia to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, “fake news,” President Donald Trump seemed to admit that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election on Twitter Friday evening, blaming the Obama administration for not doing anything about it.
“Just out: The Obama Administration knew far in advance of November 8th about election meddling by Russia. Did nothing about it. WHY?” his tweet read.
Just out: The Obama Administration knew far in advance of November 8th about election meddling by Russia. Did nothing about it. WHY?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 24, 2017
As BuzzFeed News reports, Trump seems to have changed his tune – prior to his tweet Friday, Trump has described the CIA’s findings that Russia may have interfered in the election as “phony,” a “total hoax,” and a “Democrat excuse.” Earlier in the week White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer also reportedly refused to give a straight answer about whether or not the Trump administration believes Russia meddled in the election.
I have not sat down and talked to him about that specific thing,” he told reporters, according to BuzzFeed News. “Obviously we’ve been dealing with a lot of other issues today.”
Trump continued to place the blame on Obama in an interview with Fox and Friends which is scheduled to air Sunday. “Well I just heard today for the first time that Obama knew about Russia a long time before the election, and he did nothing about it,” he told the program. “If he had the information, why didn’t he do something about it? He should have done something about it. But you don’t read that. It’s quite sad.”